This disclosure relates to wireless communication technology and, more particularly, to technology for enhancing the capabilities of wireless communications devices, such cellular or PCS telephones, so as to more closely approach the capabilities of personal computers, especially as those capabilities relate to the enhancement of Internet access or access to other sources of data or information.
In recent years the personal computer (PC) industry has witnessed a substantial change in the manner in which PCs are primarily used. During earlier stages in the rise of PC popularity, PCs were primarily looked to for their computational capacity. Subsequently, word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentation applications began to assume the forefront. Still more recently, the PC has come to be seen as a communications device, and has experienced rapidly expanding use as a communications terminal from which to send and receive electronic messages. Along these lines, consumer acquisitions of PC's have lately been stimulated by the objective of using the PC simply as an appliance to access the Internet. In this mode, much of the embedded capability of the PC lies dormant, and PC users tend to become preoccupied with information transmission bandwidth, rather than processing power or expandability.
Concurrently, the proliferation of wireless communications devices, such as cellular telephones, has accelerated to the point that cellular telephones appear ubiquitous and are predicted by some to ultimately displace wired communications facilities. In fact, cellular telephone sales now exceed sales of PCs by a margin of approximately 2 to 1, and it is anticipated that this margin will expand. As cellular telephone technology has evolved, cellular telephone functionality has become correspondingly more robust, and cellular phones now offer capabilities that were once the exclusive province of PCs. In fact, some cellular telephones now resemble small, low-end PCs with wireless access to data networks, including the Internet. Ironically, many consumers are now believed to acquire cellular telephones merely as an Internet-access appliance.
That having been said, cellular telephones are burdened by a number of characteristics that render them substantially less than ideal for applications such as Internet access. Perhaps paramount among the shortcomings of cellular telephones is the incommodious user interface they present. Unlike desktop or portable computers, present-day cellular telephones fail to include browsers, or useable displays and keyboards. The small screen size renders cellular telephones unsuitable as an interface to all but the most primitive sources of information, for example, e-mail, stock quotations, paging information, and the like.
Accordingly, what is desired is a solution that enables cellular telephones to operate as a convenient device for obtaining information from on-line, and other, information sources, such as the Internet. Preferably, the solution will not compromise the desirability of the cellular telephone as a portable communications device, but will complement existing cellular telephone capabilities in a manner that promotes the cellular telephone as a viable alternate to low-end PCs that are primarily acquired for use as an Internet-access terminal or as a device to access other information sources.